Carmen Ruiz looked up from the stack of case files and cast an assessing eye over her patients. Carson was still deeply asleep thanks to his pain medication. Rick was beginning to stir. Slipping off her reading glasses, she rose from the duty desk and made her way to his side. "Rick? You back with us?"

The young nurse groaned and blinked heavily. "Oh, my head hurts," he whispered. "What hit me?"

"That's still under debate. Up for a quick neuro check?"

"Wouldn't miss it," he muttered. The dreaded penlight made its expected appearance.

"Pupils look good. Symptoms?"

"Little nauseous, no blurry vision."

"Want some compazine?"

Rick started to shake his head but immediately thought better of it. "No, it's not too bad."

"Can you tell me your full name, the date, the president? You know the drill."

He didn't respond for a moment, and Carmen was growing concerned when his eyes suddenly widened. "I can tell you more than that. I just remembered what I was looking at when I got brained."

"You found something in the charts?"

"Not in the patient charts. On the A and I report."

Carmen stepped to the far wall and pulled down a clipboard, detouring back to the desk to fetch her glasses. Flipping through the pages, she stopped at one and read, then tapped her radio. "Colonel Sheppard, Doctor Weir, can you come to the infirmary, please?" Receiving an affirmative, she turned back to her nurse. "Do you know what this means?"

"No," Rick said as he fumbled for the bed control and raised himself to a sitting position. "I just know it means something."

When Sheppard and Weir arrived, Carmen showed them the clipboard. "This is the Accident and Injury report. We call it the A and I. Anytime a staff member is injured, even slightly, we fill out a report. As you can see, Carson filled out an A and I three days ago for a needle stick."

"Which is?" Weir prompted.

"Exposure to someone else's blood from a used needle. It happens to most health care workers over the course of their careers."

"Whose blood was Beckett exposed to?" Sheppard asked.

Carmen dropped the clipboard on the desk and slipped her glasses off. "Klia's."

Sighing, Weir folded her arms over her chest. "So what are we thinking? That something in Klia's blood is affecting Carson's behavior? Forgive me, Doctor, but that seems a little far-fetched."

"I know, but if you have other avenues to pursue…"

"Fair enough. What do you suggest as our next step?"

"We have to compare Carson's blood sample with Klia's, and hope we find a commonality. If we do –"

"If we do, " Sheppard interjected, "We confront Klia."

Weir nodded. "Put your best researcher on it."

"Doctor Weir, the best researcher for this is Jeff Dunne."

Sheppard screwed up his face. "You wanna have one suspect look for evidence against another one?"

Carmen shrugged. "Someone else could probably do it, but not in the time frame we're facing." They were all aware of the Daedalus' looming presence on the south pier and what its departure could mean for Carson Beckett.

"Do it," Weir ordered with a sharp nod. "Be sure Mr. Dunne understands the urgency of his research. And call me as soon as he finds anything."

A soft sound of distress caught their attention. Carson was waking up.